Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Protagonist archetypes
Themes
Synopsis
**Amanda Leduc’s dazzling new novel follows two walking, talking hyenas as they interact with humans over decades. Blurring the line between human and animal, these strange messengers reveal what is possible when the cages that contain us are broken.** In 19th-century Scotland, young Josiah is banished by his father for seeing the divine in the animals around him and sent to Siberia with a small Christian mission to purge such nonsense from his soul. Miserably scrubbing the chapel floor one night, Josiah is visited by what he thinks is God in animal form. When his saviours, a hyena and her mate, rescue him from a natural disaster that kills the other missionaries and then bring him safely home, he founds a religion based on his belief that God granted speech to the hyenas as part of a divine plan to heal and exalt the human race. The hyena pair, Barbara and Kendrith, aren't so sure that Josiah has it right. But with their beautiful strangeness, they utterly transform the people they encounter over succeeding generations. As Josiah's church gathers adherents, more and more animals start to speak to humans—from signing baby gorillas to seductive alligators. At first one or two rebellious pets make a break for freedom, but then comes a mass exodus of all animals held captive, forcing people to contend with a wildness in themselves they have spent millennia denying. The end of this remarkable fairytale is both joyful and devastating, completely dissolving the boundary between what's "human" and what's "animal." (Source: [Penguin Random House Canada](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/551900/wild-life-by-amanda-leduc/9780735272873))
Is Wild Life appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 13 and up.
Parents should know this magical realism novel contains a natural disaster that kills missionaries, themes of religious fervor and animal captivity, and philosophical exploration of the human/animal boundary. The violence is mild (disaster aftermath) and there's no sexual content or strong language.
What to know going in
This book has mild violence, no sexual content, and clean language. Content notes include captivity, death, and mass death (see the full list above).
Publisher ages reflect reading level; our rating reflects content maturity — they can differ.
Who'll love this
Teens will be drawn to the unique premise of talking hyenas interacting with humans across generations and the mass animal exodus that challenges what it means to be human.